I’ve come to my senses, stinging cheek pain
The feeling in my hands, I’m blank on my bed
Sugar candy honey baby, a sweet trap
It’s unfair because the trap is waiting

It is a Friday night and Baekhyun doesn’t want to be dramatic but he hasn’t forgotten about the kiss on the cheek he had gotten from the girl. Even now, with the very y, very hot girl sitting on his lap, his hands on her hips, he feels a sense of dissatisfaction.

The lady sitting on him has always been his number one call girl. Whenever he needs a good , he would find her because he knows he would get what he wants. And though he had been impulsive in saying Sure when she asked him to go clubbing with her, he realises that he isn’t even in the mood for it anymore. Even with the loud music blasting in his head, the sensual sway of this vixen’s hips, all of them won’t distract Baekhyun from the mere thought of the kiss on the cheek he had gotten on Monday, or the warm smiles he receives from the very one girl who has been occupying his mind.

Is he a stalker?

Is he going crazy?

What the is happening?

“Mm… Baekhyun,” the girl on his lap moans into his ear, pressing her back to his chest, her slender arm curling around his neck, her fingers sliding between his pink hair. “Shall we bring this somewhere else?” she purrs.

He cringes and pulls his head back at once when he feels her his ear. She frowns and turns to him. He pretends not to see her staring at him so she brushes it off. She tries again, now grinding against his crotch. At this stage, Baekhyun’s hand would probably be sliding into her but right now, he is as stationary as a chair.

“What’s wrong with you?” she finally huffs, standing up from his lap to glare at him. He sighs tiredly and looks up at her in the terrible lighting to see her towering over him, her heavy makeup making her look so dark and just… not like the sun.

Baekhyun sighs again and runs a hand through his hair. He stands. “I’m going home,” he tells her, shaking his head.

“What the ?”

And then Baekhyun feels a stinging pain on his cheek. He is taken aback as he darts his eyes to the lady who is glaring up at him, looking so pissed off that she actually looks a bit like the devil.

“You don’t just get me all hot and bothered—”

“You were the one who started grinding on me first!” Baekhyun shouts at her over the music, frustrated by her anger and also frustrated that he doesn’t even know what is happening to his body.

That only earns Baekhyun another hard slap. And then she storms off, hair flowing, hips swaying. Baekhyun on his inner cheek, tasting a bit of iron. He doesn’t notice the stares and glances his way as he walks out of the club.

He hails a cab, returns home, takes a shower, and lies in bed. He stares up at the ceiling, feeling so blank and so confused that he feels like screaming. His cheeks still hurt. And he also can’t believe, for the second consecutive Friday, he doesn’t a girl.

Actually, truth be told, he tried to have with another one of his usual girls the day after Monday. But it just didn’t work out very well. His mind just wasn’t in it and he was just always zoning out of it. So much so that his buddy had to do all the work. (He didn’t even get a release.) And ever since that day, he just had to blow off every other girl who asked him for a night of pleasure. All because his mind is only on one particular girl. The one that likes strawberries and chocolates. The one that wears quirky clothes. The one that has the power to render him speechless and stupid.

As Baekhyun lays in bed, staring at the ceiling, he thinks back to the smile that the girl always has on her face. The very one that makes his blood gush through his veins and makes his heart go crazy. He sighs and cards a hand through his hair. He is actually nuts. Who the hell gets this worked up over a thought of a smile?!

He groans aloud, shutting his eyes. He has to do something about this. Or at least, talk to an expert about it. So he makes a grab for his phone and calls the first person he can think of. It is already past midnight but he hopes his friend isn’t asleep.

“Hello,” Jongdae drawls in a bored voice. “I’m not picking you up if you’re drunk.”

“You’d be the last person I’d call if I was drunk,” Baekhyun snarls back. His friend snickers. Baekhyun rips out a long sigh. “I need your opinion on something.”

“Wait.” Baekhyun waits. “Isn’t it a Friday night?” Baekhyun doesn’t say anything because it sounds like Jongdae is simply talking to himself. “Why aren’t you out clubbing or ing?”

“That’s the thing, Jongdae,” Baekhyun moans in agony. “I can’t!”

“Why not?” He pauses here. “Did you finally contract some sort of STI?”

“Shut up,” Baekhyun snaps. “I always use a , you idiot. And I get myself checked regularly.” Jongdae only hums. He rolls his eyes and continues. “I’ve been thinking about her. The whole ing week.”

“Who?”

Baekhyun swears he is going to kill Jongdae when he sees him because he knows they both know exactly who he’s talking about. But Jongdae doesn’t want to let him off the hook until he hears a name. So, very reluctantly, Baekhyun mumbles her name in the quietest voice ever. Jongdae sniggers.

“Shut up,” Baekhyun groans, feeling his face getting red. “You need to help me!”

“Help you with what, exactly?” Jongdae asks teasingly.

Baekhyun only needs to growl and he knows he should probably be serious. Though he can’t help chuckling slightly anyway. Baekhyun getting all flustered and lovesick is new to Jongdae but he doesn’t hate it. In fact, he thinks it is refreshing to see and definitely a lot better than watching him flounce off with some stupid girl who craves for the exhilaration of being with a handsome boy.

“What do you think about when you think of her?” he asks, now serious.

Baekhyun doesn’t need to think to even answer that question. “Her smile. Also her laughter. And her voice. But mostly her smile.”

Jongdae grins. “Baekhyun,” he says very seriously. “You do know what is happening, right?”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun mumbles. “I’m going crazy.”

His friend snorts. “No, . You’re in love!”

“No I’m not!” Baekhyun gasps right away, at a disbelief that Jongdae even said that.

He’s not in love. Byun Baekhyun doesn’t do love.

“You are, Baek,” Jongdae tells him gently, chuckling. “You’re completely taken by her and you’re in love.”

“I’m going to unfriend you. Stop saying things that are not true!”

“But it is true!”

“It’s not!”

“Honey!” Jongdae yells away from the phone, calling his girlfriend over. There is a moment in which she leaves the bedroom to go over to where her boyfriend is. Baekhyun’s heart is thudding in his chest when he hears his friend ask, “If you think of someone’s smile all the time—”

“Not all the time,” Baekhyun mumbles. Maybe one or two times less than all the time, he thinks to himself.

“All the time,” Jongdae stresses, making Baekhyun roll his eyes. “What does that mean?”

“I think of your smile all the time even in my sleep, Jongdae,” comes the reply from his girlfriend.

“So you would say it’s love?”

“Yeah.”

“There you have it, Baekhyun. Aera says it’s love.”

“Why?” she wonders. “Is Baekhyun in love?”

“Guess who,” Jongdae sings. Baekhyun feels like digging a hole in the ground to hide himself. His heart skips a beat when she says the very girl’s name. Jongdae is triumphant when he says, “Ha! Baekhyun, everyone knows.”

“No, they don’t.”

“Whatever,” Jongdae blows a raspberry. “So what are you going to do about it?”

Baekhyun has already given up on trying to get Jongdae to listen to him. And part of him knows that he and his girlfriend are right. Because there is just no way in hell he would be this crazy over anyone if it isn’t anything close to love. The only problem now is exactly what Jongdae is asking.

What is he going to do about it?

“I don’t know,” Baekhyun moans again, rubbing his face with his palm in frustration. Jongdae only hums. So Baekhyun sighs softly and pleads in a soft, almost boyish mumble, “Can you help me? Please?”

Jongdae can’t remember when he had last heard Baekhyun sound so pure and innocent. Probably in high school. Or maybe even middle school. His heart goes out to him and he finds himself softening. He sighs softly.

“Of course, Baekhyun,” he promises.

Baekhyun is biting on his bottom lip as he waits for his friend to come up with something. It takes him awhile but the idea is pitched eventually.

“Taco Night?”

Baekhyun hopes he isn’t being too over the top with another big box of chocolate strawberries as he walks down the corridor to Jongdae’s place. His heart is pounding louder and louder in his chest with every step he takes. Today would be the eighth day since the last time he saw the girl. Not that he had been counting or anything. But he has really started to fully understand the phrase, ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’. In Baekhyun’s case, absence not only makes his heart grow fonder, but also more frantic.

He stops before the unit and looks down at his outfit again. Torn jeans and a denim jacket over a white shirt. Not too fancy. But not too simple. He took nearly 15 minutes just to come up with this combo.

Standing a good full minute outside, Baekhyun finally works up the courage to knock on the door. He waits with a trembling heart. And when the door opens, he feels like he should have taken more than a minute to steel himself for this.

The very girl who has stolen his heart is standing there with a smile, holding the door open. She is wearing a Barbie princess night dress that looks absolutely ridiculous yet Baekhyun doesn’t think it is even half as bad on her.

“Hi,” she greets with a warm smile, opening he door wider to invite him in.

“Hi,” Baekhyun says back, sounding quite breathless. Stupid, he berates himself.

He enters the familiar apartment and he sees his best friends in the kitchen while Aera is in the living room, sitting next to a little girl. The both of them are playing a video game.

“What’s that?” Baekhyun tears his gaze away from the living room to face the girl, who is pointing at the box in his hands. She notices the brand and raises an eyebrow at him. “Again?” she teases.

He blushes. “You said your sister likes them,” he mumbles. “I got more this time.”

She grins at him. “You remember,” she states, her brown eyes sparkling as they turn into crescents.

Baekhyun feels like all the breath has been knocked out of him. He swallows and nods his head, bobbing a shoulder. She chuckles and takes the box from him gently. He follows her mindlessly to the kitchen to watch her put the box into the fridge. Only when she has shut the refrigerator door and has turned back to him that he realises that Minseok and Jongdae are constantly glancing at him. He pretends not to see them.

“Let me introduce you to my sister.”

Baekhyun trails after her to the living room now, like a puppy following its owner everywhere. He stands next to her and surveys the little girl next to Aera, holding a controller in her small hands. He notices the pink night dress that she is wearing and belatedly realises that it is a Barbie princess dress gown as well. He glances back at the girl next to him, now seeing her outfit in another light.

“Miss Princess,” she calls in a coo. “Look who’s here.”

The little girl tears her eyes away from the screen to turn to them. She frowns at her sister, who grabs Baekhyun’s wrist and pulls him to stand next to her. To him, her touch feels hot and his heartbeat would actually most probably be described as a borderline heart attack. But then he sees the little girl staring at him, mouth wide and gaping, eyes sparkling. His heart has melted. She is adorable.

He walks forward and squats down next to her. He smiles softly. “Hello. What’s your name?” he asks gently.

She ignores him and turns to her sister excitedly. “P-P-Pink!” she exclaims, pointing at Baekhyun so suddenly that her little finger pokes his cheek.

He hears the older sister gasp but Baekhyun only chuckles and turns his head to reassure her with a smile, “It’s fine.” Then he turns back to the mini version of her. The little girl is still staring at him. “Wanna touch my hair?”

She doesn’t reply him. So he very carefully takes her small hand, hoping she doesn’t pull away, and lowers his neck. He places her hand on top of his head and then lets go. He wonders if she would just leave her palm on his head. But then she starts to ruffle his hair gently like she is a puppy, before tugging lightly on the strands, rubbing them between her little fingers.

“Okay, enough.”

Baekhyun is slightly disappointed when the older sister comes over and pulls her hand away from his hair. It felt nice. He lifts his head and looks at the little girl who is pouting at her sister.

“That’s okay,” he tells the two sisters quickly, smiling at the younger one then the older one. “You can touch my hair, just be careful.” He grins at small girl. “You might get pink on your hands.”

The little girl giggles softly. He moves to sit down next to her with Aera on her other side, more interested in the game than the little girl is. Baekhyun holds his arms out to the small girl and she scrutinises his hands for a long moment before she stands up and walks into them. He hears the girl next to him gasp, causing him to turn to the side as he wraps his arms around the small girl and pulls her to sit on his lap.

“She’s always been so afraid of strangers,” she mutters, amazed.

Baekhyun chuckles softly, looking down at the little girl staring up at him with twinkling eyes. “Are you afraid of me?” She shakes her head at once. He beams and looks up at her older sister smugly.

She scans his face and rolls her eyes playfully, laughing. She takes a seat next to Baekhyun, their kneecaps touching. Baekhyun has to suppress a shiver. “Tell Baekhyun your name, Princess,” she coos, reaching down to her sister’s hair.

Not ignoring Baekhyun anymore, the little girl looks up at him and stutters in a small voice, “J-J-Jinju.”

“Nice to meet you, Princess Jinju,” Baekhyun greets, taking her small hand and lifting it to his lips. She is gaping at him as he presses his lips to the back of her hand. “I’m Baekhyun.”

“Prince Baekhyun,” the girl next to him corrects. Baekhyun looks at her, swallowing. He wonders if he looks like the gaping little girl on his lap as he stares at the older girl. She smiles at him, so warm and so inviting. Then she glances at her sister. “He’s Prince Baekhyun, Jinju.”

If they were in the era of kings and queens, princes and princesses, Baekhyun wishes with all his heart that he would be the prince to this princess sitting next to him, the princess that would light up their kingdom like the sun, and that they would live happily ever after.